AI is coming in hot, whether you like it or not.
Companies are investing billions and billions of dollars, and some of that is spent in my home state of Louisiana, in the development of AI technology and new data centers. These new data centers being built out are going to be so power hungry on the grid that it is even causing the United States and other nations to revisit the idea of investing in nuclear power as another viable option, something that has been largely off the table for some time.
Now, I’m not interested in spending time talking about the speculation of AI, what it could do one day, the kinds of threats it may pose, or the implications of these data centers and their draw on our already taxed power grids (although those are all noteworthy conversations for another day).
Rather, what I’d like to spend your time doing is thinking through the implications of AI technology on the economic sphere, and dealing with the big questions of “how is this going to affect our day-to-day lives and our jobs.”
The Technophile Temptation
There are two different ways we can look at the AI revolution that we are in right now, and both are wrong.
One, we can be a technophile. Meaning that we become obsessed with being an “early adopter” in the rapidly advancing tech space and work to implement as fast as we possibly can. The technophile is the type of person that, as soon as the new iPhone or newest model Tesla is available, they are in line to get them. They believe that if they “can just keep up with the times” this will provide them with all the advantage they need to stay on top of the markets.
This type of person looks to newly developing tech as a type of savior. They believe if they just have the newest technologies in their pockets then they’ll definitely win.
The problem with this mindset is that it’s very risky, especially in the space of a rapidly developing and changing technology. Every day we are getting new information and new complexities hitting with the AI models.
For example, within the last year or so it’s been realized that the language models operating within ChatGPT hallucinate on a regular basis. In other words, they import information and facts into a conversation that are either entirely false, or just wrong enough to skew their results in a particular search query just enough to throw people down a rabbit hole.
To give a specific example, I use an AI bot that I created to help me keep my pool from going green. I put in a test strip, I read the results to the bot, and the bot tells me what chemicals I need to add in order to keep my pool in good shape. The problem? My bot keeps forgetting how big my pool is! So… you can see how that would create an issue.
Now, I’m experienced enough with AI tools to know that this is a risk you take when utilizing them, and the motto we have at the Page50 office is that AI never creates a final product, but rather we use it to shorten and enhance our production processes along the way.
But, you can see how, if you’re utilizing AI in your methods of streamlining a system like banking or accounting… you need to be very very careful and cautious that the results you’re getting on the backend are correct.
So, we should resist the urge to be a technophile.
The Luddite Temptation
But let’s talk about the Luddite temptation - which I would wager may be more common in a region of the country like our own.
That’d be the technophobe. Everything new is bad. This person is probably a step or so above the Amish.
This is for the kind of guy that would wake up in the morning and long for a cabin, off the grid, with a homestead, and a woman in a bonnet. Those are his dreams.
Specifically, in terms of AI, this type of person would say no to AI simply because it was new. Or maybe they’ve watched Terminator or the Matrix too many times and they’re starting to believe those stories are true.
Now, there are real risks with AI, that’s factually true. And some of the people high up in the chain-of-command in this technology space are actually arguing for more government restrictions on the tech while it is in such a rapid growth and development phase.
But does that mean that we should run away from the technology in and of itself? Is it the gateway drug to the terminator universe? Are we all about to be plugged into the matrix?
No, I don’t think so. I think it’s a tool, just like many other tools, and just like any technology that is developed there is an early phase in it’s adoption where it is exploited and abused by some bad folks. When the internet first showed up, cell phones, social media, all of these things were abused (and still are) by some pretty bad actors. So, we need to be cautious and thoughtful in our utilization, but that doesn’t mean don’t use it.
There are also those that are afraid that AI is going to replace them in their job, and I’ll talk more about that in a bit, but first I’d like to give you an analogy.
What Tractors Teach Us About AI
A long time ago the world was afraid of over population. (That’s not a new fear by the way, that’s a reoccuring fear throughout human history.) They were afraid that the farms wouldn’t be able to produce enough food for the ever-increasing population on the earth, and according to the math… they were right.
But then you know what happened next? God gave us the tractor. When that tractor was developed suddenly one farmer could do the work of a hundred or more. Farms became much more efficient and fruitful, and guess what that meant… more food and more affordable food.
BUT — When the tractor was first developed—there were some farmers who said, “that them there tractors are going to put us out of our jobs!” And they wanted to stop the tractor from coming. They refused to adopt it as a product or a tool on their farms. Do you know what happened as a result?
Those farmers went out of business. Because it is true that the tractors did create more efficiency and a need for less farmers overall, but guess what, it created significant wealth for the farms who adopted them, and learned how to use them well.
That isn’t to say that there weren’t mistakes along the way I’m sure. Heavy equipment can cause serious injury, and so the number of dramatic injuries in the farming industry likely went up as the industrial revolution continued to turn, but overall, life on the Earth got better.
I’m a Christian, and because of that I believe that God in general improves the world through his people. In other words, I think the Bible and human history teaches us that generally speaking things get better over time. Because of that, I think we can look at the developement of new technology like AI with a cautious optimism.
We use AI tools in our work of website development and search engine optimization and other areas; and these tools make us far more efficient. In fact, one project that was slated to take us about 6 weeks to complete was actually completed in less than three days. How? We build a tool, powered by AI, to automate the process. We updated and optimized 30,000 product listings for an online store with a bot. We built the tool and let that bad boy run.
And you know what was cool, that saved us time, and because it saved us time — it saved the customer money. Winner winner.
But What About Jobs?
But if it saves so much time… if it makes things more efficient… won’t it cost people their jobs?
Yes.
Just like in the farmer’s situation where suddenly they need less hands to get the work done, there are many jobs in the world that will be replaced by AI tools in the next ten years.
But that doesn’t mean people won’t have jobs. I would argue that it actually gives people the opportunity to innovate that they didn’t have before.
Here’s what I mean:
Let’s carry the farm illustration out further. Folks were no longer needed to be field hands so what did they have time to do? Innovate. Build something new. Spend their time working and developing other skills. Education increases and as a result what else increases? Innovation and quality of life.
In other words, your kids can’t go to college if you need them to work the farm.
The “loss of jobs” is an immediate threat, and it will affect some negatively, that’s true, but the cream rises to the top. Those who are able to innovate will do so, and the world will actually become an even better place for it.
In other words, those jobs that are eliminated w/ AI will actually cause the general costs of goods and services to go down for everyone and will increase opportunity for everyone at the same time. The markets, and the average consumer, will benefit.
Creators, Not Consumers
I think what the development of AI will eventually lead to is going to be a creation of two new classes in the world, no longer divided by finance and resources, but divided by the ability to think and innovate. Those who are able to work hard and create new things, and those who plug themselves into the matrix—those who simply consume rather than create.
So that’s the challenge, that’s the disposition we must adopt. We must elect to be creators, wielding the paintbrush and the tools that we are being given, and fighting to make a better world yet again.
So, don’t be afraid of AI. And don’t run to embrace it whole heartedly without thinking things through well. A cautious optimism of innovation, I believe, will bring us into a blessed future.